Official Rules - YeaHaw!

Watch Fakes
As mentioned above, try not to fall for obvious or weak fakes. This is easier if you know the thrower, since they
tend to use the same fakes to try to throw you off.
Straight Up Force
There are a few times in a game when a force to one side is inappropriate. Usually this is just after a huck, when
you may be marking the person who has just caught the huck, and there is a man free in the endzone. The
thrower will be trying to hit this man before the rest of the defense catches up. In this case, it is your job to make
it as difficult for the thrower for as long as possible. The best way is to use a straight up force. This means that
instead of standing to one side of the thrower, you stand directly in front and try and block any throw. Usually it
is best to drop back a meter or two to maximize the time you have to see the disc coming. This type of force will
only be used for a few seconds, until the defense has time to regroup.
Preventing the Huck
There are also times in the game when it is obvious that the thrower wants to huck the disc, mostly when
someone is running free long. You need to recognize these situations and make it as difficult as possible for the
thrower to get a good long throw off. This will most often involve a straight up force. Follow all of the fakes,
because it is important to make the huck as difficult as possible, even at the cost of an easy short throw.
Recognize that most players prefer to huck backhand, so overplay the backhand side of the force to stop them.
As with a straight up force, you will only usually need to mark like this for a few seconds.
Where are the receivers?
If you have particularly good game sense or peripheral vision, you may be able to tell where the potential
receivers are. In this case you can overplay that side of the force a little. One way you may be able to tell is by
watching the thrower’s eyes - it is difficult to fake effectively with your eyes. Another way is from communication
from defenders and the sideline. „No break!“ is a call to overplay the break side. „Strike!“ is a call from a
defender to switch the force to the other side for a second, as a receiver is open on the open side.
Marking Off
The marker is allowed to stand one disc width from the thrower, but it is not always best to stand this close.
Against weak throwers, it is fine to pressure them by standing as close as possible. However, against strong
throwers who enjoy throwing inside-out and break passes, it is often best to drop back about a meter. The
advantage of this is that there is an extra fraction of a second after the throw for the marker to get their hand in
position for a block, particularly against the inside-out pass. In theory this may seem insignificant, but in practice
that fraction of a second is often the difference between a throw going under or over the marker‘s hand and the
marker getting the block. The other advantage is that if a block is made, it is much less likely to be called for a
foul because the disc is more likely to have left the thrower‘s hand.
On the down side, there is less pressure on wide throws to the open side, and it is a little easier to break the
force with a wide throw since the marker has moved their body away from blocking the break side. The
advantages appear to outweigh the disadvantages, however.
Strike
A strike occurs when the marker temporarily switches the direction of the force. There are a couple of instances
when this comes in useful.
The first is when there is a high stall count on the thrower already. If the count is at 8 or 9 it is obvious that the
thrower will have to throw almost immediately. The usual throw is a huck on the open side. By employing a
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